NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust: Developing a Climate Resilience Performance Indicator for the BCT
Develop a framework which links BCT investment to improved climate change resilience and calculate a quantitative KPI.
Student opportunity type
Degree level
About
The NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust (BCT) is a statutory (NSW Government) not-for-profit body established under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016, which commenced operating in 2017. The BCT is within the Department of Planning and Environment (DPE) and is investing $70 M/year in private land conservation across priority landscapes in NSW.
The BCT's purpose is partnering with landholders to enhance and conserve biodiversity across NSW.
In total, the BCT is managing over 2,200 private land conservation agreements with landholders over 2.2 million hectares, representing almost 3 per cent of the landmass of NSW.
The BCT's four strategic goals are to:
- Increase private land conservation in areas of strategic biodiversity value
- Deliver efficient, effective and strategic biodiversity offset outcomes
- Support participating landholders to conserve biodiversity
- Promote public knowledge, appreciation and understanding of biodiversity and the importance of conservation
Project: Developing a Climate Resilience Performance Indicator for the BCT
| Internship details | |
| Internship Availability | Semester 1, 2025 |
| Internship Discipline/s |
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| Internship Level | 3rd year Undergraduate and Postgraduate Coursework only |
| Available to International Students | Yes |
| Preferred Project Skills: |
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| Clearances Required | No |
| Host Supervisor | James Brazill-Boast, Principal Ecologist E: james.brazillboast@bct.nsw.gov.au T: 02 9995 6758 |
| Location | Queanbeyan/Sydney |
| Project Opportunities/Benefits for the Intern | The intern will gain an in-depth understanding of private land conservation policy and programs, and how they interact with climate change impacts on biodiversity. |
Summary:
The BCT has several KPIs (e.g. hectares protected, biodiversity condition of agreements) which are reported on regularly. A proposed KPI, which has yet to be developed, will refer to climate change resilience – i.e. the extent to which BCT investments (in the protection and management of biodiversity on private land) are improving the overall climate resilience of biodiversity in NSW, or are projected to do so. This will involve development of a theoretical framework which links BCT investment to improved resilience of individual sites, through on-ground management, to landscape-scale improvements. Then apply available data sets to this framework to calculate a quantitative KPI, which can be reported annually.